Blue Share is a collection of applications, daemons,
and libraries that work together to provide a robust
subsystem for peer to peer network file sharing.

These components are architected to execute in both
real and protected modes. In real mode, all
components operate in the same address space. In
protected mode, some components are separate
processes that operate in their own
address spaces, while other components are shared
libraries that can be bound to multiple application
processes. Components in each process communicate
with each other through shared memory.

Blue Share takes advantage of a flexible architecture
that allows for maximum function with highest
performance and smallest footprint. See the sidebar
for a detailed discussion of the Blue Share
architecture.

The CIFS
Client supports connections to a
remote server through NetBIOS or directly
through TCP. It also negotiates session
parameters, authenticates, mounts shares,
dismounts shares and terminates sessions.
The CIFS Client maintains a file context
and also performs all file operations.

The CIFS
Server exports shares to a network and
accepts connections from remote clients
through NetBIOS or directly through TCP.
Authentication can be disabled, or can be
offloaded through a GSSAPI interface to an
authentication server such as Kerberos.

NetBIOS
provides name registration and lookup in
Microsoft networks. Name registration or
lookup can be performed using broadcast
packets on a local network, through a WINS
server somewhere on the network or a
combination of both.

The Platform Abstraction
layer enables easy ports to any hardware
and software platform. Hardware and RTOS
abstractions are provided as well as
portable utility functions used across
Blue Share components.